Where Does America Keep Her Gold?

America keeps most of her gold at Fort Knox, a United States Army reservation, about 35 miles south of Louisville in Kentucky. (A large amount of the United States’ gold reserves is stored in the vault of the Fort Knox Bullion Depository, one of the institutions under the supervision of the Director of the United States Mint. The remaining gold reserves are held in the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint, the West Point Bullion Depository and the San Francisco Assay Office, also facilities of the United States Mint.)

Covering 110,000 acres, the reservation contains the United States Army Armored Center and the principal United States Bullion Depository. The fort was established in 1918 as Camp Knox and was used as the army’s Field Artillery officer training school. In 1932 the name was changed, and the following year the 1st Cavalry Regiment was moved from Texas to Fort Knox, where it was mechanized.

For maximum security, the bullion depository was built at Fort Knox in 1936. By the second half of the 20th Century the gold stocks there were valued at more than 10,000 million dollars. The gold is housed in a solid square bomb proof building constructed of granite, steel and concrete, enclosing a two-level torch-proof steel and concrete vault. Added security is provided by guards, sentries and an encircling steel fence, as well as by electronic protective devices, such as the photo-electric eye.

During the Second World War the gold vault was used as a storage place for the original copy of the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and England’s Magna Carta.

Content for this question contributed by Beth Puget, resident of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA